poodlefan

NAO: There is a strong link between excess weight and CCL rupture. There's also a statistically higher incidence of a second rupture once the first has gone. I hope this motivates the owner to keep the dog nice and lean now - far better from a health perspective. Corgi's backs can live without all the weight too. Quantity fed will be as important as content. A dog can still maintain excess weight on that diet.

S&T: My vet reckons there's no downside to getting weight off a really fat dog FAST. She's the one who recommends food intake be halved.

Ooops - response in wrong thread.

I agree Vickie. I certainly wouldn't call 30 minutes of onlead exercise "minimal" exercise for a pup that age. I hope this walking isn't happening on hard surfaces.

Can the dog swim? Best non-weight bearing exercise ever.

I would suggest she seek veterinary advice but the simplest method is to halve the food and replace some of it with vegetable pulp or mashed pumpkin.

Well done Tassie! Just goes to show it don't matter how fast you run if you don't run clear.

I second the advice on obedience training. You can train a dog to come when it's called. Of course calling a dog then disciplining it will sour that training. I'd be off to dog school to work on your control. ETA: Your dog is at an age where she is testing the limits of her independence. If you don't correct this through positive demonstrations of leadership, I'd say she'll continue to blow you off. Chasing dogs and kids is highly rewarding.. far more so than coming back to you unless she's been trained to. The simple rule of allowing dogs offlead in public is that if you don't have effective voice control you shouldn't do it. That's how dogs got banned from public places to begin with.

Too much play can be very hard on growing bones. Minimising the exercise will take some time to have an effect. Good luck with getting him healed!

I'd recommend you take your dog to a qualified veterinary chiropractor. Some greyhound chiros are great and some frankly are quacks. I like the person who manipulates my dog's spine to be qualified. Here's a link to the Australian Veterinary Chiropactors Association. It has a contact list with state by state locations for people. http://www.chirovet.com.au/ I'd send it to your vet too. You'd think a vet could actually recommend a qualified practictioner wouldn't you.

OK, so not a puppy. You will have confused people by posting this in the puppy problems forum. I'd say 4 times a day is pretty normal. I don't think my guys go more often than that. I hope you've got plenty of warm bedding in the bathroom - it's a heat sink. How long do you wait outside for. If you want her to go before you go to bed you'll have to train her and that may mean waiting out there till she goes and rewarding her for doing it. This may take a while initially.

More information would be useful. How old is the dog? Is she drinking normally? Does she have access outside? Do you watch her constantly inside?

Only one of my dogs rolls and she will only roll in herbivore poo - not cat or dog. One theory is that it's an instinctual behaviour that masks their scent from prey. I think they enjoy the smell too.

How old is the pup? 12 weeks. Plenty of people (me included) do not really walk their dogs onlead until they are over six months old. However, short trips to parks for a sniff around and even sitting somewhere safely watching the world go by is good. I doubt there's been any real 'damage' done. Dogs learn like we do sometimes - two steps forward, one step back. ;) So keep taking him out but short periods, keep him close. Take treats, toys etc. Don't mollycoddle him just keep him safe. It goes without saying that you should not take a pup of this age anywhere near a public off leash park for "socialisaiton". If you don't know the dogs and owners there you cannot guarantee your pup's safety. Even friendly dogs can harm a small pup in play. Go to a good dog club... lots of help and opportunities for controlled socialisation. I own flexi leads but I use them in very limited circumstances. My youngest dog who's been taught from the word go to walk only on a loose lead can't use one. He won't pull on the lead to extend it.

My guess is too much too soon. You need to have him happily following you around on lead where he feels safe before you take him out. He needs to have the basics of a recall too. Loose the extender lead. You don't have as much control as a short lead and he has to pull on it to make it work - that's the opposite of what you want - you want him to walk nicely on a loose lead. It's a big scary world out there. Start slowly and introduce new sights and sounds carefully and initially from a distance. These are issues you could get a lot of help with from a decent dog trainer or club.

I would wait until the dog is 12-14 months old but I would desex him. The concerns about early desexing impacting on growth have basis in fact.

I feed human grade full fat beef mince. I add it to the veggie mix that the dogs get one day in three. I chose beef because the dogs get so much chicken via their RMBs. They also get lamb and pork RMBs. The only time I fed my dogs a prepared meat/veggie mix from a butcher, Lily got chronic gastro. The vet said it was probably from preservatives.

Containment and appropriate stimulation are the keys to surviving puppies of any size. Puppy proof the yard. Remove everything you don't want wrecked. If you can't do that (and perhaps even if you can) think about buying a portable run that can be his place during the day. Set it up with a warm kennel, perhaps a clam shell filled with sand and lots of those stimulating toys you have which you can rotate. Food that takes a long time to eat like stuffed kongs and marrow bones can also help. It's not enough to exercise him physically. You need to exercise him mentally. If you aren't taking him to dog training you should be. This is a dog not far removed from it's working origins and it needs a job. Mental stimulation is just as tiring as physical stimulation and a lot kinder to growing bones. A portable run would certainly solve a lot of problems in a new rental property. Obedience trained dogs also go down better with landlords. Is there any way either of you can visit him at lunchtime? A break from the monotony of being home alone all day would be beneficial.

Sway: And there are plenty of equally or worse behaved dogs that never leave their backyards. "Obedience" to me means general dog training AND that particular dog sport. I have noticed that what one person finds as unacceptable behaviour in a dog, another will tolerate without complaint. Eg. Jumping Up Whining Begging for food We get the dogs we train, or don't train. Dog sports dogs are all capable to a greater or lesser degree of focussing on their handlers and obeying some cues. I've met dogs that don't do either.

Yep, all dogs can do dog sports. How well they do them and how long they can do them for will vary. For agility, a light framed dog that is relatively high on leg for it's height is obviously going to have a far easier time jumping than a heavy dog that has short legs. I can't speak for flyball other than to say you want a dog with a very good front end because that's where the stress will be - same as for agility. Trainability of dogs varies - some breeds will make more obvious obedience prospects than others. However if you want a dog of about medium size to do all three sports WELL you will be down to a fairly narrow list of contenders. Off the top of my head, I would look at Border Collie Kelpie Koolie Brittany (not field lines) English Springer Spaniel (show or field lines) Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever I would be looking at kennels that produce dogs with a track record in dog sports and I would be looking very hard at conformation issues. I would not be buying a dog from any of these breeds unless I saw the parents hip and elbow scores. I'd be wanting a confident outgoing puppy that demonstrated an interest in tugging and retrieving. In the slightly larger breeds I'd add the Belgian Shepherds, German Shorthaired Pointers and Vizslas to the list for consideration. The best source of information about good breeders will come from the people who do the sports you are interested in. I'd probably try to decide which sport I wanted to focus on and buy the most suitable breed for that. Your other option is to buy a dog from a breed that you just love and do whatever sports you can - that's what I did. Working dogs take a lot of hard work to keep happy in the suburbs. Not all top dog sports dogs are a piece of cake to live with. You might want to think hard about how much exercise and mental stimulation you can provide for a dog every day and go from there.

He's a Beagle but he's still a dog. He can be trained to recall in most circumstances and I'd be using food. You need to be training the recall in ordinary circumstances and proofing it for emergencies. Coming to you has to be better than any distraction on offer and that can be a tall order for many dogs. However, I'd be using food to give you a head start out the gate and I'd be having some in close proximity so you can grab it if he does a runner. Those dry dog treats that look like kibble could be left somewhere. You need to take this dog to obedience so he can learn to sit and wait whenever the gate is opened and to recall too. You can ask him to sit and wait, toss him a treat and open the gate. Same thing (throw it over the fence) before opening. How many toys is he left with and how much exercise and mental stimulation is he getting? Beagles are notorious for escaping to amuse themselves so you've got to make being at home more entertaining. "Home Alone" type toys would be a good start.

If she doesn't have the money for BARF (although I think it's not that expensive) then personally I think she should continue to feed premium kibble. No roll, or 4 Legs will be cheap enough. The causes of bloat are many and varied. It's not as simple as being caused by kibble, although I'd be thinking a better quality one would be beneficial anyway. Raw fed dogs die of bloat too. Gee mince in the morning and soaked kibble at night - what are the Wei's teeth like.

There is correction needed here but also some prevention. If your daughter wants to ride her bike, LOCK THE DOG UP If you can't be outside to supervise her when the puppy is there, LOCK THE DOG UP. Pinning the dog to the ground and bearing your teeth is not only potentially very dangerous but it is not PREVENTNG the behaviour. You need to be there to issue the correction and prevent your daughter from being pulled to the ground and rough housed. It would also be useful to teach the pupppy some games such as fetch that can channel its chase instinct more appropriately. 5 year olds are not physically or mentally capable of discplining a pup. That's your job Frank and if you can't be there they shouldn't be together. I agree with the suggestions about the use of a leash. Removing the dog from your daughter and telling it "ARRGHH" when it get's rough should be sufficient to deter the grabbing. Sounds to me like you need to do quite a bit of work teaching the dog to calmly interact with your daughter. You should not tolerate the pup being rough with anyone, including you. Dog's don't differentiate much between who they are playing with. Consistent expectations from you will assist. So no chasing, no grabbing, no mouthing, no jumping up, no playfighting with any human is the way to go.

I've got some stuff called Max Pro Germ Free disinfectant. It has a deodorant as well -in bubblegum flavour. It smells quite pleasant.

Chilli will be very comfortable with my dogs.. .they won't show any interest in her either. (I prefer to call it "non-reactive" ) I have to watch Darce a bit with strange dogs who want to be all over him but he's fine with a dog that leaves him alone. Ness, in classic mature age student fashion I will probably write down everything Sue says from "good morning" on the first day.. So yes, I can do a seminar summary.